


Community (Council) Policing

by westernsunset



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: And it sucks, Gen, at least for nick and olivia, democracy in action!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 07:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westernsunset/pseuds/westernsunset
Summary: The detectives confront an integral part of New York policing: the monthly community council meeting.--it's an SVU fic, so there is references to groping





	Community (Council) Policing

“We’re not getting enough shares or retweets on our posts, and that’s really impeding us from catching these guys,” said Deputy Inspector Caravelli.

“Appealing to Twitter,” muttered Nick under his breath. “That’s a new one.”

“Let’s try to be respectful,” said Olivia, not taking her eyes off the Deputy Inspector. Nick’s scoff was barely audible, but Olivia heard it.

None of the detectives liked community precinct council meetings but they were a fact of life in New York. Every month, a group of citizens would hold a meeting attended by the commanding officer of the local precinct and any members of the community that wanted to attend. They always lasted multiple hours, entertained the oddest questions, and were considered a waste of time by detectives who weren’t specifically trained in community relations.

The precinct council meeting for the one-three precinct was particularly brutal. Held in an unheated, poorly lit gym, it was nearly impossible to hear what people were saying and attended almost exclusively by senior citizens. So there was lots of repetitions and mishearings. It also inexplicably always smelled like fish.

SVU detectives didn’t normally attend these kinds of meetings. But there had been a rash of recent rapes in the community and the local precinct captain said the public was demanding answers, so Olivia had forced Nick to attend and help her represent SVU. But before they could present, they had to sit through the Deputy Inspector’s report and the public’s reaction.

“Ok, well that’s all I got, any questions?” asked the Deputy Inspector.

Hands shot up around the room. The Deputy Inspector called on a man in the front.

“Yes, Carl?” Nick could hear the exhaustion in the Deputy Inspector’s voice.

“I want to know what you’re doing about the kids at Roosevelt High!” Carl said angrily. “They sit on my stoop every day, they leave their garbage, they get into fights and every day I call the police and you show up way to late.”

“I hear you, and we are doing our best.”

“Why can’t you put a squad car on my block?”

“The precinct has a limited amount of squad cars and we just do not have the resources to put one on every block,” the Deputy Inspector said.

“What do my taxes even go towards?” muttered Carl as he sat down.

“Other questions?”

“Yes, why haven’t you arrested my neighbor,” said a woman in the back.

“What is your neighbor doing?”

“Hammering at all hours of the day, playing music, being too loud.”

“So ma’am, it’s not illegal to play music—“

“I am making a noise complaint! That’s an arrestable offense!”

“It’s not actually an arrestable offense to make a noise complaint or be on the receiving end of a noise complaint…”

“Are you kidding me? I’m basically living in communist Russia!” the woman huffed angrily.

“I’ve heard that’s what Communism is really all about,” muttered Nick. “Being noisy without consequence.”

Olivia barely suppressed a laugh as Deputy Inspector Caravelli cocked his head and motioned for the detectives to come up. 

“Ok, tonight we have Sergeant Benson and Detective Amaro from the Special Victims Unit to give you all some information about crimes in the neighborhood,” he said. He looked relieved to be out of the senior citizens’ line of fire.

“Is it too late to back out?” Nick said under his breath. 

“We promised Caravelli,” said Olivia without conviction. Nick could tell she didn’t look forward to facing these community members either. But she still put on a smile and turned to face the crowd.

Although you could hardly call fifteen angry community members a crowd. Turned to face the flock? The herd? The pack? The convocation? Nick shook his head slightly to clear it. He was falling into a collective noun hole again.

“Hello, yes as Detective Inspector Caravelli mentioned my partner and I are here from the Special Victims Unit…”

“Aren’t all victims special?”

“Yeah, when someone stole my car stereo I didn’t see you all there!”

“Special Victims” Olivia said, raising her voice just slightly, “means we investigate sex crimes.”

“Well why didn’t you just say that? You’re confusing everyone,” said a young man in the fifth row.

“That’s just the name of our division sir. Anyway, we heard that you all were concerned about the reports of gropings at the 23rd street station--”

“Which train? There’s gropings on every platform!” said a middle-aged woman in the back.

“The 23rd street station on the 6, and ma’am,” said Olivia, clearly a little more flustered, “if you’re seeing gropings, you should report those to the police. We’ve only heard reports of gropings at the 23rd street station on the 6.”

“Well let me tell you, there’s gropings everywhere! I’ve seen it!”

“Did you call the police about them ma’am?” asked Nick, a bit of bite in his voice.

“Of course I did! You people just didn’t do anything!”

“Ok, I will give you my number, and if you ever see a groping in the future, you can call me alright?” said Nick.

“We wanted to reassure you all that our squad is close to making an arrest on this matter, but in the meantime we ask you all to be alert at the 23rd street station and be on the lookout for anyone maybe standing too close to a woman, or touching someone inappropriately,” Olivia said quickly, trying to end her speech before another disgruntled citizen interrupted her.

“So you want us to do your job?” said an elderly man in the front row. “My taxes pay your salary! Why should I keep an eye out? Just put an officer there all the time. I promise you no one will do any groping then!”

“Again, our office is close to making an arrest but we just advise you be extra alert to protect yourselves,” Olivia said through a forced smile.

“Psh! What happened to protect and serve!”

It was clear that the man didn’t really expect an answer to his question. Olivia took a deep breath and Nick squared his shoulders, hoping it was over.

“Any questions for the sergeant and detective?” said Caravelli with a bright smile. Nick wanted to kill him.

“Yeah, how come you spend so much time in Times Square and never deal with the crime down here?”

“When is someone going to do something about the street performer on my block? He juggles shirtless! That has to be illegal!”

“How much is the Mayor paying you to cover up his crimes?”

“What’s your fax number?”

“Why are you wasting precious city resources by printing these flyers in color?”

“Can you make the type on the flyers bigger?”

“What is the NYPD doing to keep youth off the street?”

“I think my landlord is overcharging me for my air conditioning.”

“Ok, that’s not something the NYPD can help you with ma’am,” said Olivia, after almost a half an hour had passed, her and Nick fielding questions on what seemed like every conceivable topic. “And that’s all the time my partner and I have, so be safe and we will see you soon,” she blurted out as she rushed Nick down the aisle and to the door.

Caravelli followed them out. “Thanks again for coming, you did great!”

“Oh my God. Are they always like that?” Nick said.

“What? The community members? They’re just passionate. Tonight was a relatively slow night, the councilwoman is having a town hall, so lots of them went to that to yell at her. But I think they loved having you, we’ll have to have you back sometime.”

“And we would love to come back,” Olivia replied, with a warm smile. She shook Caravelli’s hand, and when her and Nick were safely back in the car, she sighed heavily. 

“Next time I’m sending Finn and Rollins.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's great to be involved in government! Some people are just...a little too involved. And involved on the oddest issues. Find me at nevertobecaught.tumblr.com and I'll tell you all my weird community meeting stories.


End file.
